


Happy

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Home [9]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Explanation For Bones' Necklace, Feels, Fluff, M/M, Missing Scene, Post-Movie(s), So Married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 04:24:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7603267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was important that Bones be happy, too. </p><p>***Spoilers for "Star Trek: Beyond"***</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy

**Author's Note:**

> Set a few weeks after the end of "Star Trek: Beyond," so naturally there are spoilers. (If you haven't seen "Beyond" yet, go watch it. It's fabulous.)

It was good for them to have some enforced station time at Yorktown while the new ship was being finished. Best for Sulu, of course – it gave him the chance for some real time with his family – but Jim appreciated the chance to test the life he’d thought he wanted. The fact that he was already bored stiff, even though they’d only been here a few weeks, told him everything he’d needed to know.

That didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy the opportunity to spend more time with Bones. There’d been a few more double dates than usual – Spock and Uhura were still feeling their way back to each other, and he supposed it helped to have him and Bones there to keep things lighter – but their alone time was still hours and days more than they ever managed on the ship.

They’d headed to the main plaza, arguing good-naturedly about where they were going to go for dinner, when Bones stopped and shot an amused look at the little girl who was tugging her mother in their direction. “Uh oh,” he murmured. “Captain Kirk fan alert.”

For once though, Bones had gotten it wrong. When they turned to look at her the little girl’s face lit up, and she pulled away from her mother and started running towards them. “Doc! Doc! You were right!” She did a little twirl, holding her arms out to the side as if showing off the bare, healthy-looking skin. “The medicine you gave me worked. I’m all better!”

Bones, who had been volunteering at the station hospital in his spare time, crouched down so he was at her eye level. “I told you it would, sweetheart,” he said warmly. “Now, remember what you’re supposed to do next time your other mom brings home a really pretty flower from her work?”

Jim and the little girl’s mother shared a look that roughly translated to “Aren’t they adorable?” Then he turned his attention back to Bones, not wanting to miss a moment of the cuteness. He was happy to be ignored, especially if it meant Bones was getting at least some of the attention he deserved.

The little girl put on her best serious face. “I can look, but I shouldn’t touch.” Then the smile burst out again, almost shy as she reached out to touch the pendant hanging around Bones’s neck. “I like your necklace.”

Bones’s expression softened even more. “Thank you. My mama gave it to me.” It had been hers, originally, and she’d given it to him after they’d finally had a long talk about his father’s illness and Bones’ guilt over his death. Kirk didn’t know exactly what had been said – though he’d been the one who urged Bones to talk to her, that was as far as he’d had the right to push – but when Bones had come back from Georgia he’d looked like a weight had been lifted off his chest.

The little girl’s smile widened. “My mom gave me my necklace, too!” she said, holding the star pendant hanging around her neck out to show him. “Want to see?”

After he’d spent a suitable amount of time admiring it, the mother was finally able to persuade her daughter to leave Bones and continue on to wherever they’d been going. Bones watched her go, a soft smile on his face, and Jim watched the man he loved with that same pressure in his chest that always came when he thought about how incredibly lucky he was.

The fact that Bones loved him was a gift from the universe he unequivocally did not deserve, and the fact that he was so damn bad at talking about his feelings always left him wondering if Bones really knew that. He could do it with other people – words of encouragement and appreciation to the crew, the kind of validation for Spock that neither of them had ever gotten as children, empathy for the people they helped. But Bones was too deep in his heart, right next to all the fragile, forever-raw things that could break him if they were ever exposed to light, and that whole area mostly existed somewhere beyond Jim’s capacity for speech.

When he tried, like he did now, he mostly sounded like an idiot. “You’re happy, right?” he asked, the words escaping his mouth without consulting his brain first.

Bones turned to him, brow furrowed in annoyed confusion. “What kind of damn fool question is that?”

“A real one,” Jim countered. “We’ve talked about how much happier _I_ am in space, but it’s important that you’re happy, too. I know the piloting has helped with your aviophobia, but that doesn’t mean you don’t wish you were somewhere else.”

The thing was, Bones had proven surprisingly good at adventuring. Though he’d complained loudly enough the whole ship could hear when he first started, by this point Bones was actually a better pilot than Jim was. And, though he’d been known to complain about that, too, Spock and Bones were one of the best two-person teams on the entire ship.

So Jim pushed him a little more than he probably should, letting Bones prove to himself how good his own wings really were. But that didn’t mean Bones appreciated it.

Bones stared at Jim for a long moment, like he was giving the matter some serious thought. Then he smiled, slow and sweet. “Yeah, I am,” he said finally, the utter certainty in the words easing something in Jim. “There was a while there where I would’ve bet good money I’d never be happy again, but you’ve always had a knack for winning with even the worst hands you’re given.”

“Ah, come on, you’re an excellent hand. Pam was just the wrong person to hold it.” He grinned back, lacing his fingers through Bones’s. “I’m happy, too, by the way.”

“Sure you are,” Bones said dryly. “Happy enough to think about grounding yourself for no good reason.”

“Hey, that was space, not you.” Jim squeezed his hand, hoping that had been a joke. “Actually, you’re the only reason I was able to even consider it.”

Bones’s eyes narrowed. “If we’re going back to that ‘giving me land’ thing again….”

“It’s not that.” Jim shook his head. “I love the Enterprise, especially her crew, and I would have missed them all if I’d decided to take the Vice Admiral position.” His expression went soft as he leaned closer. “But I knew I could talk my real home into coming with me.”

Bones looked touched. “You idiot,” he murmured, voice full of all the love and affection a man could want. “You never have to talk me into going with you.”

Jim closed the rest of the distance between them for a kiss, long and slow since for once they didn’t have to worry about staying professional in front of the crew. It wasn’t until they’d finally broken apart that they remembered they still hadn’t decided where to eat dinner, and happily went back to arguing again.

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my new original fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


End file.
